Frá rannsókn Open Europe

EU spends £2 billion a year on propagandaOpen Europe has published new research which shows that the EU is spending billions of euros a year on initiatives to promote itself and its central aim of 'ever closer union'. In 2008 alone, it spent more than 2.4 billion euros, which is more than Coca Cola's global advertising budget. The book, "The hard sell: EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds" shows how EU information policy is geared not towards providing neutral, balanced information, but towards trying to convince people to support EU integration.

As well as a sophisticated information and communication strategy designed to 'sell' the EU and its political message, the EU also spends billions of euros a year on efforts to engender a common European culture and citizenship, with the explicit aim of increasing people's attachment to the EU project. The EU pours hundreds of millions of euros a year into think-tanks and lobby groups which promote its policies and campaign for further EU integration, and many of its efforts are directed very deliberately at young people.

Open Europe's research was covered in the Telegraph and the Mail on 27 December, and in the Sunday Times on 28 December. Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally was quoted saying, "Taxpayers should not be footing the bill for vain PR exercises to make us love the EU. The EU needs urgent and radical reform, not expensive campaigns to improve its image. People certainly need to know more about the EU, but the EU has proved unable and unwilling to provide neutral, factual information. This senseless spending on dubious PR projects has got to stop." The research also appeared in several European titles, including Courrier International, General-Anzeiger and ANSA. Telegraph Mail Sunday Times The hard sell: EU communication policy and the campaign for hearts and minds OE press release